Most students will agree that the junior year of high school is the hardest.  Junior grades are important for college applications.  Students are taking difficult courses this year, perhaps upper level math and science, AP or Honors courses.  Students are also busy considering and visiting colleges, working on admission essays, interviewing, and beginning to get busy on college applications.  It can be exhausting for students — and their families.

But what about the junior year of college? Although junior year of high school may be legend, many students find themselves unprepared for a parallel experience in college.

Much attention is given to the first year of college, the transition, and sometimes the mistakes, that students make. There is growing interest in the second year of college as students settle in and choose a major and/or career path.  But after the year of Freshman Folly and the potential Sophomore Slump, there is less often attention paid to the junior year of college, the year of the potential Junior Jitters.  But this is an important time in your student’s journey through college.

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Many high school students spend time volunteering or participating in community service activities as part of their high school graduation requirements.  Those who are not required to participate by their school often participate in order to bolster their college applications.

Volunteering, or participating in activities to help others, is always a good thing, whatever the motivation.  However, one negative outcome of this requirement is that many students, once they get to college, feel they no longer ”need” to volunteer since the school no longer requires participation and their college applications are done.  Like participation in extracurricular activities, some students see these activities as a means to an end (college admission) and may not realize many of the other benefits.

Talk about giving back

Help your student think about why volunteering or donating his time to a worthy cause might be a good thing to do.  Aside from the benefit to the organization, he will gain much himself.

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Many students head off to college knowing that, in addition to their academic work — and possibly their sports or other activities — they will need to have a job. The costs of attending college are high — and growing.  In addition to tuition and room and board, there are extra fees, expensive textbooks, and living expenses.  We can help our students think through factors to consider as they decide what kind of job they may want — and a major question of whether to work on campus or off campus.

Thinking about a job at college

The first, and most important, caution is for your student to remember that, if they are a full-time student, they have made a major commitment to their schoolwork.  Although your student may be spending relatively few hours in class, a full-time student has taken on the equivalent of a full-time job.

A general rule of thumb is that students should expect to spend two hours on coursework for each hour that they spend in class.  So, for example, if your college student is registered for 15 credits (approximately 15 hours/week in class) then they should be doing approximately 30 hours of work outside of class — for a total of 45 hours of schoolwork.  Of course, this is an average and the demands will vary each week, but when considering how many hours per week your student can commit to a job, they need to be realistic about their schedule.  If your student is playing a sport, or involved in some other major activity, they will need to consider that time commitment as well.  Several studies have suggested that students who work more than 20 hours a week may have a lower GPA.

Here are some factors your student should think about as they consider work opportunities.

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On-time graduation is important, but it is relative.  For many college students, ”on time” means four years to complete their degree.  However, other students (a growing majority in this country) need five or even six years to graduate.  There are many factors that can affect your student’s possible need for extra time.  You and your student should decide together, what makes sense for them.

Three important tools for keeping track

One of the keys to graduating in whatever time-frame your student has planned is keeping track of their progress.  Unfortunately, many students randomly take courses, or blindly accept the advice of others, without any understanding of why they are taking certain courses or what they need to do to complete their degree. Your student should listen to the advice they receive, but should be able to weigh it based on their own understanding of requirements.

So how does your student find out what they need to do? There are three tools available at most colleges that can help.  Your student should learn early in their college career what is available and consult these tools often.

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Good college students recognize that asking questions — the right questions — is an important part of learning.  Sometimes asking just the right question, at just the right time, of just the right person, can make the difference between success and failure.  If your college student is interested in graduating from college in four years, there is an important question that he should be asking at least once every semester: ”Am I on track to graduate in four years?”

Nationally, only 37% of college students graduate in four years.  The trend is for the majority of students to take at least five years to complete their degree.  Colleges now calculate their graduation rates based on the number of students who complete their degree in six years.  So the question about being on track is an important one.

Four years isn’t for everyone

For many students, a five-year or six-year plan may make sense.  Some students know at the time that they enter college that they will need longer to complete their degree.  They may need a reduced course load, they may have full time or part time jobs or family responsibilities, they may have significant outside or extracurricular activities that take a priority.  But for those students who enter college intending to finish in four years, taking ownership of their progress is essential.

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This is the first article by new College Parent Central contributor Lynn Abrahams.  Lynn specializes in college transition and success for students with learning differences.

When I think of the transition from parenting high school students to parenting college students, I am reminded of the Sunday when I first began to teach my son how to drive. The instant we arrived at the huge, vacant parking lot, the momentous shift occurred.  He clamored into the driver’s seat and I moved over to the passenger’s seat. All of a sudden, I knew that he had control of the car and I did not. I was terrified.

When your child first goes to college, you are no longer the conductor of his journey. You are a passenger — one with a very important role, to be sure, but no longer occupying the driver’s seat.

If your child has a diagnosis of learning differences, that shift may feel particularly challenging.

During high school, you needed to be involved in order to make sure your student got the services and accommodations they needed. The message in high school was, ”be involved”. In high school, parents have access to student records and participate in the Individual Educational Plan (IEP) process.  In contrast, as soon as your child goes to college you may be hearing the opposite message.  In college, parents do not have access to student records, without a written consent from the student. In college, there are no IEP’s and it is up to the student to self-disclose to the Office for Disability Services. The message can feel like, ”back off”.

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